Sometime when I was a toddler, I was playing with some lego blocks and building little plastic buildings. The story goes that my Mother turned to my Grandmother, proud as punch, and said, “Look a handyman!” To which my Grandmother replied, “No, an Artist.” And she was right.

At the age of eight, infatuated with cars and Wheels magazine, I started designing cars. My family just seen the 1988 World Expo in Brisbane, and I got to see Mitsubishi and Holden’s designs for the future, as well as current and past concept cars. Both companies really laid the future out for everyone to see, as it wasn’t until 1996, before they started producing cars that I hadn’t already seen the designs for at that exhibition. So, I poured over Wheels and my Dad would even let me park the car in the garage sometimes (ironic considering the fact that I can’t drive now), and we’d go to motor shows, and auction-houses for second-hand cars that had been in a car accident (Dad would buy a Suzuki from them, a cursed car that would land us in an accident as well – but that is another story). One day, I was inspired by the Mitsubishi Colt, a small car that I felt had big car potential. I went ahead and redesigned their car as a family sedan, and sent off the designs to Mitsubishi’s plant in Adelaide. I had big expectations, hoping to they would buy my designs and I could begin life as a designer (I was never really taken with being a kid). I had even told a friend when he asked how much I would sell the design for that I would sell it for $50,000. I had no idea what that amount of money meant, but it seemed like a lot to me!

However, my designs were no what they were looking for. I actually got a extremely nice letter back from Mitsubishi with booklets featuring very expensive beauty shots of their cars (this was the eighties after all). The letter, which I still have, was very encouraging, saying that he liked my designs and that they reminded him of the new Magna. He encouraged me to look at the new Magna series (which I dutifully did), and that I should continue learning design. This inspired me to send my designs to other car companies so that I could get their advertising booklets, but none were as genuinely nice as the man at Mitsubishi.

Unfortunately, my passion for didn’t really last very long after discovering that I wasn’t going to immediately strike it rich. After that, I set my sights on Architecture and fashion design.

to be continued…

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Published by Hamish Downie

Hamish Downie is an Australian writer/producer and music video director based in Japan. Notable work includes the music video for Robyn Loau's single "Never Let You Down", and the multi-award winning short film, "An American Piano", which he wrote & produced, and was officially selected to screen at the TIFF Kids 2015 festival. His most recent short film, "Silence", his directorial debut, is travelling the festival circuit now, and has received a notable mention from the Let's All Be Free Festival in the UK.
View all posts by Hamish Downie

Hamish Downie

Hamish Downie is an Australian writer/producer and music video director based in Japan. Notable work includes the music video for Robyn Loau's single "Never Let You Down", and the multi-award winning short film, "An American Piano", which he wrote & produced, and was officially selected to screen at the TIFF Kids 2015 festival. His most recent short film, "Silence", his directorial debut, is travelling the festival circuit now, and has received a notable mention from the Let's All Be Free Festival in the UK.